Jurors Role

Jurors can't shift responsibility - To those of you who, as you sit here now, tend to agree with me, bear with me for awhile, for I too know that brevity is the soul of wit. To those who of you who may tend to disagree with me as you sit here now, keep and open mind. To those of you who have formed no opinion at all at this stage, but are waiting to hear my remarks, I hope my words will convince you that this is not a death penalty case. Because it is the opinion of the twelve men and women who sit in front of me who make the decisions that count. It is your decision alone that counts.

You can never shift the responsibility for the sentence in this case. You can never explain that the rest overpowered you, because you, each and every one vote, and only you and you alone can cast that vote. If your personal vote is that (name the defendant) must be sentenced to death, it must be done by each of you as an individual. It must be your individual, deliberate, cool, premeditated act and no one else's.